Slightly Cloudy Water... Day 3 Fishless Cycle... No Ammonia, No Nitrit

[emmajt]

Ok so heres the explanation:

I did a week of dosing filter start every other day.....

Day 1 : pH 7-7.4 (bit of a inbetween colour) High range pH 7.4
Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 0ppm

Then I added 3.16ml of ammonia (homebase)


Day 2 : Added 2ml filter start
Test ammonia 0ppm
+ another 3.16ml ammonia to see if there was a change
Test ammonia .25ppm
No nitrite or nitrate
added another 5ml ammonia

The addition of active filter media also


Day 3 :
No ammonia, nitrite or nitrate and slightly cloudy water!

Any tips on what to do next, leave it? But where as my ammonia gone?

Please not I made a strong solution of ammonia and tap water and the tester kit and ammonia is all working!

 

[CezzaXV]

It would be more helpful if you knew what ppm of ammonia you're dosing up to. 3.16ml could be loads or very little, depending on what size your tank is.

 

[emmajt]

It would be more helpful if you knew what ppm of ammonia you're dosing up to. 3.16ml could be loads or very little, depending on what size your tank is.

Sorry used the calculator on here put my 60l, 9.5% ammonia it gave me the dose of 3.16ml to add to get to 5ppm (add and wait method)

 

[Em29]

I have no idea what is happening....considering you are testing immediately after adding the ammonia I cannot have been broken down instantly so I have no clue....

I hope someone can come up with some solutions for you. It is frustrating!!

 

[emmajt]

I have no idea what is happening....considering you are testing immediately after adding the ammonia I cannot have been broken down instantly so I have no clue....

I hope someone can come up with some solutions for you. It is frustrating!!

I know its really annoying .... I think it may have something to do with the filter start bacteria possibly? Thats the only thing I can think of!

 

[Em29]

I am in a quandary with my new tank as it will not process ammonia at all -

What is your ammonia reading right now?

 

[emmajt]

Did it about a hour ago and it is still 0ppm

I dont know whether to add a big amount of ammonia then test then see what happens but it is already 3x + overdosed!

 

[emmajt]

Cant decide, any tips anyone?

 

[XAli1971]

Did it about a hour ago and it is still 0ppm

I dont know whether to add a big amount of ammonia then test then see what happens but it is already 3x + overdosed!

The only thing I can think of is your nitrates and ammonia are used up by a lots and lots of fast growing plants.

I guess you could try adding the ammonia and testing every couple of hours to see what happens. (something I'd do out of curiousity)

 

[emmajt]

Did it about a hour ago and it is still 0ppm

I dont know whether to add a big amount of ammonia then test then see what happens but it is already 3x + overdosed!

The only thing I can think of is your nitrates and ammonia are used up by a lots and lots of fast growing plants.

I guess you could try adding the ammonia and testing every couple of hours to see what happens. (something I'd do out of curiousity)

I dont have any plants, all fake at the moment. So bizarre!
I may add and add and see what happens

 

[XAli1971]

Silly thought, have you run a test in a bucket with the same concentration as your tank. could be your test kit that's off. I'd go for the same concentration rather than a strong one so you could compare

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Maybe take a ~20ml sample to a fish store for them to test in front of you (probably be a charge of at least £1 for this), or buy another ammonia test kit (or even a strip test) to compare results against this existing API one?

 

[Em29]

Does the tank water smell?? When I dosed mine just over 5ppm it really had that ammonia smell to it...?

I would ask lfs to test as well. Although I know you already made up a solution to test and ammonia and liquid test came out as expected then....

I just do not understand where it is going. Not fair - yours keeps going and mine won't go anywhere...talk about sod's law

 

[Yanks15]

Adding that much NH3 you would think the smell would be fierce. I dosed my 55gal to 5ppm and it reeked. Do you have the proper ammonia? I was told not to use any with surfactants so check yours to see. Other than that, there's really no reason you are not seeing any results in your test. Hopefully one of the "Mad Scientist's" here can figure it out for you.

 

[emmajt]

Yes it has a smell but nothing bad, have to put nose right next to it!